n the face of a scandal so big that people have forgotten to talk about Michael Vick, the Patriots and Belichick have now been penalized a grand total of $750,000 and either two first-day picks or a first-round pick. People have begun to speak out on the arrogance of the Patriots organization. They say the now popular idea that perhaps the Patriots are not the epitome of success that everyone thought. Some even dare say that Belichick is less than a spectacular coach and orchestrator of three Super Bowl winning teams.

I say it's a load of crap. And here's why.

After the year 2001, the first Super Bowl victory of the New England Patriots, Drew Bledsoe was traded to the Buffalo Bills for a second-round pick. Bledsoe was unsatisfied and upset with his role on the first of the great Super Bowl teams and now was playing with a division rival. There are three possible reasons that Bledsoe did not reveal to his coach, to the media, to everyone the fact that Belichick was recording tapes of the other team's offensive signals in order to gain an advantage over other teams in the NFL.

First, he didn't know it was going on. This seems unlikely. Bledsoe was the highest paid player on the Patriots team at the time and a captain of the offense. The idea that he didn't know that tapes were being recorded of opposing teams' offensive signals is ludicrous.

Second, it WASN'T going on at all.

Third, the Bills were doing it too and he wasn't going to rat his own team out.

After the year 2004, the third Super Bowl victory of the New England Patriots, Ty Law left the team after many disagreements with management over an extension and signed instead with the New York Jets, a division rival. After playing on two Super Bowl teams, the information that Belichick was recording tapes of the other team's offensive signals in order to gain an advantage over other teams in the NFL still did not reach the mainstream.

The idea that Ty Law didn't know what was going on is absolutely ludicrous. He was a member of the defense and would have used this footage just as much as Richard Seymour, Willie McGinest, or Tedy Bruschi.

Therefore, either this idea STILL wasn't going on or the Jets were also participating in filming the other team's signals.

Two seasons later, the demonic Eric Mangini was at the helm at head coach for the New York Jets. With a team in the rebuilding stages and the chance at the playoffs relatively low, Mangini had the perfect excuse to use this information against Belichick. He was a new, young coach with a chip on his shoulder and a desire to overcome the shadow of his mentor. So he didn't do any filming himself and prepared for some major second-half comebacks. That year the Jets came close once and succeeded once. But this may not have been enough for Mangini. He wanted to take the Pats off their pedestal. So he used the information that he had and set up a sting to take the Patriots down.

But how did Mangini know this was going on?

The answer is simple and distinct. The Patriots MUST have practiced this technique while he was defensive coordinator. Whether or not you believe that the Patriots cheated during the Super Bowls just like every other team is up to you. But for Mangini to have known what was going on he must have either continued the practice of taping the offensive signals of opposing teams or instituted it himself when he became defensive coordinator the season after the Patriots lost their third Super Bowl.

And if you insist that Mangini is innocent, that they simply caught the Patriots in the act of something that no one else had the balls to do, then their image, success, and legacy is even further cleared. But, with overwhelming evidence to the contrary, if you believe that Mangini didn't know exactly what was going on exactly when it happened, you are a fool.

I do not want to make excuses for the Patriots. They cheated. They cheated and they got caught cheating. They deserve their punishment. But three facts remain.

First, when those tapes were removed in the first quarter of the game last weekend, the Patriots proceeded to crush the Jets anyway.

Second, the desire of players like Ty Law and Drew Bledsoe to stick one to their old team and win their own Super Bowl ring wouldn't interfere with telling their coaches about the defensive cheating of the Patriots unless the other team, too was cheating.

And finally, with the evidence very distinctly pointed in a certain direction, the Patriots were just as innocent (or just as guilty) of cheating as every other team in the league during their fantastic Super Bowl run.

Time heals all, in 8 weeks this wont seem nearly as big of a deal, hell I havent heard Mike Vicks' name mentioned in a week. Give it some time.

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You are right, and by then some of the media jackals aware of all the piling on, will be pointing out some of the same things. I am going to make sure that I remember who is saying what now, I want to remember those who helped whip this into a frenzy and never let them off the hook.